Women's Health Advocacy Club Presidents Sadie O'Leary and Sophia Todd Take Action to Promote Awareness and Change.
How did two ambitious young high schooler students light up San Francisco's most prominent buildings, City Hall and Salesforce Tower, to bring awareness to the unjust treatment of women in healthcare?
The answer: It was the drive and success of Sadie O'Leary and Sophia Todd's Women's Health Advocacy Club.
O'Leary and Todd, juniors at Saint Ignatius College Preparatory (SI), wanted to go outside their school parameters to shine a light on women's health care rights in their city. They founded and run the Women's Health Advocacy Club, which works to bring awareness to the ineffective national Breast Cancer Screening guidelines and how they can be improved to benefit all groups of women.
"Generally, most women in the United States are recommended an annual mammogram to screen for breast cancer," O'Leary explained. "But a personalized screening approach that takes into account a women's environment, genetic risk factors and lifestyle may be more beneficial at targeting their personal risk for breast cancer."
The club works in affiliation with breast cancer oncologist and surgeon Dr. Laura Esserman's WISDOM (Women Informed to Screen Depending on Measures of risk) Study at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) which tests two groups of women to see what approach detects breast cancer most effectively. One group receives an annual mammogram, as the national guidelines call for, and the other group is treated based on a personalized approach due to their unique risk factors.
"We have made great strides in the treatment of breast cancer by understanding that there are many different types of cancers, and we tailor treatment accordingly," Esserman said. "Everyone should not get the same treatment. Now we need to take those advances into screening. We should start by determining the risk for breast cancer and for what type, and tailor screening and prevention recommendations. That is what we are doing with The WISDOM study. Everyone who has not had breast cancer can join, learn about their risk and get a personalized recommendation. Help us create better data and a better future."
Inspired by Esserman's work, it was important for Todd and O'Leary to engage their greater community in recognizing that one individual breast cancer treatment is not effective for all groups of women.
They tried reaching out to City Hall through an email campaign to have the building lit up in May for Women's Healthcare Month. After not receiving many emails back and being put on a waitlist, they decided to ask in person. They drove down to City Hall after school and spoke with the buildings and grounds managers and legislators on how to ensure their time slot for the lighting. By advocating in person they were able to show their passion for the cause, which was felt by the City Hall administration. Soon after, they were notified that the building would be lit on the evening of May 2.
Sadie O'Leary and Sophia Todd, students at SI and presidents of the Women's Health Advocacy Club.
Their efforts of meeting with authorities in person helped them convey to adults in positions of power how vital it is for women to receive equitable health care. They chose to light up City Hall in pink, red and blue to symbolize the disparities in treatment of women battling breast cancer, cardiovascular issues and PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). The students said they believe it is important that San Francisco be a role model for other cities in the nation to show what it means to honor the issues that the youth are bringing to light.
O'Leary and Todd decided that they did not want to stop there. As they were brainstorming for other city landmarks to advocate with, they knew with the community outreach of the Salesforce Tower; it would be the ideal place to display a light show. They partnered with Jim Campbell to display artistic imagery that would highlight the top three women's health care disparities: breast cancer, cardiovascular disease and PCOS. On May 6, the top of Salesforce Tower illustrated three stripes in support of the Women's Health Advocacy Club. But this goes beyond the three stripes as action from legislators and lawmakers who will prioritize women's livelihoods with health care is the end goal.
Sadie O'Leary and Sophia Todd at the foot of Mission Street at the Embarcadero point out the top of the Salesforce Tower illuminated to emphasize the importance of women's health care.
This is why Todd and O'Leary met with Regan Dermu, a volunteer support lead for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network on the East Coast. She works closely with lawmakers at the local, state and federal levels to help educate and move policies that benefit the cancer community, such as access to rapid screenings and treatments. Todd and O'Leary engaged in dialogue with Dermu about empowering youth communities to become aware of disparities in women's healthcare.
"There are not enough young people involved and I hope to empower youth to get involved early on because it really starts with just one person," Dermu said. "When you have your collective voices and people working together, you have far more impact than you realize."
O'Leary and Todd raised donations for genetic testing kits at SI that were sent to the women in the personalized breast cancer group of the WISDOM Study to assess their individual risk for breast cancer based on family genetics. They encouraged their peers to tell their families about the life-changing opportunity to join the WISDOM Study and work alongside brave women who are challenging the accuracy of the National Breast Cancer guidelines.
One main issue in the national guidelines is the trials that were used to determine how often women should be screened were not inclusive of all races because the proper number of African American women were not included. As Todd and O'Leary explained, African American women are more susceptible to faster-growing high-risk cancers, so it is detrimental to not have the national guidelines fit their mammogram needs. If the national breast cancer screening guidelines were changed to a personalized assessment precedent, breast cancer would be caught more accurately. One size does not fit all, and this is especially paramount in health care.
Todd and O'leary currently are joining forces with UCSF's Women's Health Alliance, a student organization within the School of Pharmacy, to bring more awareness to women's health rights in the education system.
To join the fight for better cancer treatments for women, sign up for the WISDOM Study at https://thewisdomstudy. Also, sign up to become a member and volunteer at the American Cancer Society at https://www.fightcancer.org/.
This story was submitted by Women's Health Advocacy Club Presidents Sadie O'Leary and Sophia Todd, students at SI.
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